The long-awaited trailer for the new movie, The Numbers Station:
We first mentioned the The Numbers Station in 2011, when it was still being filmed.
In this film, John Cusack’s character, Emerson, has been given the task of protecting Katherine (Malin Akerman), the operator of a shortwave numbers station that broadcasts encrypted messages to operatives. When the station is compromised in a surprise attack, they must work together to secure it and prevent distater.
According to the website The Digital Spy, The Numbers Station is scheduled for release in the US on April 26, though a UK release date has not yet been confirmed.
If you’re new to shortwave radio and wish to listen to numbers stations, follow the category Numbers Stations–we will post updates on the movie as well as several recordings of real numbers stations still in existence.
This is great fictional drama based on fact. Although the film appears entertaining, the technology behind numbers stations did not involve a human announcer. Using a person to do this task, aside from being mundane is a point of failure. The voices used were enunciated by machines which would convert entered data into the prerecorded voices which were broadcast. A series of videos on these machines can be viewed at http://youtu.be/Xkc_Ig87TnM
Yes, good points, RykE. Though, admittedly, I _wish_ the voice on the other end was both live and Malin Akerman. Ha!
-Thomas
I’ve been listening to these stations since I was a kid in England in the 1970’s, wondering who the female that I kept hearing reciting numbers in German on the shortwave bands was – and, of course, why she was reciting those numbers! At the time (like many of us I’m sure), all I knew was that she sounded mysterious and strangely chilling. If only I had known at the time what a gift it was to be in Europe with a shortwave receiver during the height of the Cold War.
This movie looks interesting and I’ll definitely watch it, though a Hollywood-style action treatment does make me somewhat skeptical. A well-produced serious documentary would, IMHO, be well-worth watching.
PS – Thank you for all the great work you do on this blog Thomas. I comment rarely, but read it regularly.
Ah yes, even state side, I heard so many numbers stations as I cruised the SW bands late at night in my bedroom. That was well before the Internet, but I knew, based on how mysterious they sounded, that they must be sending covert messages. I’m not a numbers fanatic, but I love the concept that these broadcasts target only one or few people, yet they’re so public, so accessible. Brilliant, really.
Thanks, Dave, for the kind compliments, by the way.
Readers should note that Dave has an excellent QRP website: aa7ee.wordpress.com.
See you at Dayton sometime?
Cheers & 73,
Thomas
K4SWL
I have not been to a ham-fest since moving to the US 25 years ago Thomas, but there’s always a first time! Even my friends comment on how hard it is to persuade me to go out. However, in a few years, I hope to live full-time in an RV (complete with HF station of course) and may be able to arrange my travels to include Dayton one of these years.
Thank you for the mention, and apologies for the very infrequent posts to my blog.
Funny, I get a bit of no-post guilt on QRPer.com. I only seem to squeeze something out every couple of weeks at best–perhaps one post per 20 on the SWLing Post. You blog is great, though. The walk-through and excellent photos from your Elecraft kit are fantastic. You’re quite the photographer. Like the photos of your cat, too.
The RV life sounds like an excellent goal, Dave. I now have a KX3 and bought it with the idea that it serves my ham radio and SWL needs equally. My wife and I plan to do some truck camper RVing in the near-ish future. Travel school our girls a bit.
You should attend a large hamfest sometime soon. I find that US hamfests, in general, are much more active than those in the UK–at least 10+ years ago when we lived there. Dayton is amazing and has everything. My favorite, though, is the Ten-Tec hamfest–more radio per square tailgater. 🙂
Keep in touch OB es 72,
Thomas
K4SWL
Thanks for the heads-up on this, Thomas. I look forward to seeing this movie.
I’ve been waiting on a trailer for almost 2 years, John! I knew when I saw the cast on this one that it would be done properly. Very happy to see that they used an authentic sounding numbers dialog and that I can now believe that every female voice behind the station is live and as attractive as Malin Akerman. Alas, one can dream…
I have a few Spanish numbers recorded that I’ve been meaning to post for a couple weeks now. They’ll be up soon now that my new server is up and running.
Best & 73,
Thomas